


his place in the world

by clokkerfoot



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Episode: s08e021 Existence, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 11:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4623666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clokkerfoot/pseuds/clokkerfoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immediate follow-up to the kiss at the end of Existence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	his place in the world

When they pulled away from one another, Mulder couldn't stop smiling. Scully's eyes were still closed, her lips half-parted in a lazy smile, and William was motionless in his arms, heavy and vital.

Her hand on his elbow was an anchor, pulling him down to earth, and the weight of Scully's baby in his arms and the relaxed expression on her face were holding him in place. In _his_ place, with Scully and William. Where he belonged.

He never wanted the moment to end, wanted to capture the calm lull of Scully's breathing and the sounds of William's tiny breaths.

Her eyes opened.

"Hi," he murmured, drawing back enough to give her space to breathe.

There were unshed tears in her eyes, he noticed. He knew she was happy, and she practically swelled with joy. Scully always seemed bigger than she was, her personality and sheer force of will filling any room, but Mulder had never known her to be so encompassing.

"Hi," she replied, her lips soft around the words.

They held gazes for a few seconds, just living in the moment while they could. William let out a desperate cry, writhing in Mulder's arms.

Scully was on him in an instant, her arms sliding under William and gently pulling him away from Mulder. He exhaled when William's weight vanished, feeling remarkably empty without him _right there_. She looked more at ease with William than Mulder felt, and she held him carefully against her body as she moved away from Mulder, towards the bed.

Once she was settled on the edge of the bed, she slipped her robe from around her shoulders and guided William to her breast. Mulder watched them for a moment, marvelling at the sight. William found her nipple with ease, his little hand grabbing at the surface of her swollen breast.

"Come here."

Mulder glanced up at Scully's face. She was smiling as she cradled her child, her cheeks pink with a glow that Mulder couldn't identify. He obeyed her command and sat beside her on the bed.

William was staring up at Scully with bright, innocent blue eyes, his lips wide around Scully's nipple, and Mulder thought that he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Second to Scully, of course.

"Does it hurt?"

Scully let out a breath of laughter and shifted William in her arms, adjusting his head so he gasped a little less around her milk, "No, not really. It did the first time, but he's no more feisty than you, Mulder."

Mulder couldn't help but laugh at that, and he moved his hand over to stroke his hand through William's sparse, blonde hair. He wondered if William would grow up to have Scully's red hair, or if he'd have brown hair like his maternal grandmother. He already had Scully's bright blue eyes, the natural eye colour of a newborn, but maybe they would change over time. Mulder hoped they wouldn't.

"I'm so proud of you, Scully," he said quietly as he rubbed his thumb gently across William's temple, "He's perfect," he looked up at Scully, at her small smile and her tired, loving eyes, "You're both perfect."

The pink flush on Scully's cheeks blossomed to a bright red, and her smile widened. Mulder leant forward and kissed her, his hand moving round to rest on hers, underneath William's head. They held the innocent kiss for half a minute, just breathing in one another, their lips shifting silently together in the most natural culmination of their relationship.

When Scully pulled away, her expression one of complete bliss, she pressed their foreheads together.

"I love you, Mulder," she whispered, her breath featherlight against Mulder's skin, "I always have. Even when the world was against us, when it tried to pull us apart, I loved you."

Mulder smiled and brushed his nose against Scully's, "I know. You don't need to say it."

"I do. If I don't, you'll never know how much you mean to me. How much you mean to our s-"

Mulder pressed forward and kissed her before she could finish. He hadn't dared to think it, hadn't brought up the subject of William's paternity beyond a casual discussion over pizza. He so desperately wanted to be the father to the child at Scully's breast that it was overwhelming, but he had no idea if he'd even played a biological role in his conception.

"You're his dad, Mulder," she mumbled against his lips, her voice breaking, "You're his father. I know it."

"You can't know for sure, Scully. We tried IVF, and it didn't take. I know we tried, but... I just don't see how it could have happened. You shouldn't have been able to conceive naturally."

"But I did. _We_ did. William is evidence of that," Scully pulled away from Mulder as she spoke, focusing her attention on William again.

Mulder regretted mentioning the IVF. They didn't talk about it. It was one of their unspoken rules. But William was a biological improbability, and considering how vehemently the world had contested his life, it was a miracle in itself that he was in Scully's arms, alive and healthy.

William was a miracle. Mulder knew that.

"I don't need to know William's biological paternity to know that you're his dad, Mulder. I thought you knew that," Scully said quietly. She eased William away from her breast, her eyes downcast, and Mulder reached for the burping cloth at the end of the bed. He placed it on her shoulder, wordlessly. She settled William against her shoulder, his head on the cloth, and rubbed his back for a few moments.

"You know," she continued, her voice soft as she massaged William's back, "There's no one else it could be. There was only you, in the end," she looked up at him, her eyes shining, "It's always been you, Mulder."

Mulder nodded in response, suddenly unable to speak. They sat there for a while, until William let out a gasping burp, his eyes widening in surprise. Scully pulled her robe up around her shoulders, and readjusted him until he was cradled in her arms again. She rocked him against her chest until his breathing evened out and he drifted off to sleep.

Mulder could hear her humming under her breath. He recognised the faint tune as _Beyond The Sea_ , and he rubbed his hand against her lower back in the most comforting gesture he knew.

She looked at him for half a second, then back at William. She rose to her feet, slow as anything, and laid William in his bassinet. Mulder came to stand at her side, watching as she swaddled William in a plain white cellular blanket. The sight of Scully settling her child - their child - down to sleep was everything he'd never expected to see.

Once William was comfortable, she stepped back from the bassinet and turned to look at Mulder, her face angled up towards him.

"He's your son, Mulder," she whispered, and her voice cracked around his name.

"I know," Mulder breathed, drawing Scully into his arms, leaning down to kiss her soft lips, "I know, I know, I know."

She moved against him, her breath hard against his mouth, but he could feel the fatigue in her muscles, in the hands that smoothed against the plane of his back. He knew that her body was too tired for sex, and he knew that she was too exhausted to love him like she had all those months ago.

He wanted to treasure her, tonight. There would be time for sex in the future, but tonight was a celebration of their union, not an encore of it.

They undressed, and although she seemed conscious of her distended stomach, stretched skin and swollen breasts, he found himself loving every imperfection. She was Scully, and she was a mother now, and she bore the marks of her pregnancy like badges of honour. She of all people deserved motherhood, and Mulder knew it.

It had been a long time since he'd been able to hold her in his arms, and he lowered her to the bed like she was made of porcelain. They lay atop the crisp sheets, entwined, their warm bodies pressed together as if no time had passed, and Mulder hummed tuneless songs to her until she fell asleep.

When William stirred, a few hours later, it was Mulder who rose from the bed to change his diaper and comfort his cries.

Once William was settled again, rocked carefully to sleep in Mulder's arms, Mulder laid him down beside the sleeping Scully. He paused for just a moment, drunk on the sight of his child lying next to the woman he loved.

Scully stirred when he knelt on the mattress, and William let out a muffled whimper in his sleep as Mulder moved to lie on his side. Mulder hushed Scully's sleep-addled questions and reached over for her hand. The moonlight had now begun to creep through the slats of the shutters, and the milky glow illuminated the soft lines of Scully's weary body.

Mulder kissed her knuckles once, and watched as her eyes closed again, her hand going limp in his. Soon after, the even breathing of his family lulled him into a peaceful slumber, and he knew that he had finally found his place in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Existence yesterday, and I cried for a solid fifteen minutes. I had to let my emotions out in some way, and writing a missing scene set immediately after That Kiss felt like the right way to do it.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr [here](http://clokkerfoot.tumblr.com/).


End file.
